What is this drawing? Not once in describing the shape of that mass did I shift my eyes from the model. Why? Because I wanted to be sure that nothing evaded my grasp of it... My objective is to test to what extent my hands already feel what my eyes see.
- Auguste Rodin

There is only one true thing: instantly paint what you see. When you've got it, you've got it. When you haven't, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.
- Edouard Manet

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Jot Touch pressure sensitive stylus for iPad reviewed

Those of us who enjoy drawing and painting digitally, either with a pressure sensitive tablet and stylus on a desktop computer, or with a capacitive stylus on an iPad (sorry, Apple, fingerpainting is for kids), are often frustrated with the disconnect between the two.

Most notable is the lack of pressure sensitivity on the iPad, leaving us constantly tapping to bring up adjustment controls to change opacity or line weight.

The Jot Touch Bluetooth pressure sensitive stylus for iPad by Adonit seeks to change that, encapsulating the pressure sensitivity into the stylus itself, and communicating that information to pressure aware apps via Bluetooth.

Though I can’t yet give you a personal review, there are several appearing around the net, particularly a nicely thorough video review (bottom two images above) by concept artist and animator I-Wei Huang, AKA Crab Fu.

The functionality of the stylus is limited to support incorporated into the painting and drawing apps, but many of the major titles are on board. More details in the reviews listed below.

That is an issue handled separately by each painting/drawing app available for the iPad (e.g. Procreate, Sketchbook, ArtRage, Brushes, etc.). You would need to look at the information from the makers of each app to see what provision has been made for transfer to another computer or Bluetooth printing from the iPad.

It would be nice. Unfortunately, unless Apple changes the underlying iPad tech, I think every stylus will have a certain degree of clunkyness – limited by the touchscreen’s dependence on a capacitive area similar in size to a finger.